Christmas Special Why is Christmas on the 25 th December?

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1 Christmas Special Why is Christmas on the 25 th December?

2 BBC Learning English Hello, I'm Yvonne Archer, and this is a BBC Learning English Christmas Special. As we know, every year, Christmas is celebrated on the 25 th of December. For Christians, that s the date of the birth of Jesus, the son of God. But the Christian holy book, the Bible, seems to suggest that lambs were being born at the time when Jesus was born, and the stars were the stars of springtime. So if it s unlikely that Jesus was born on the 25 th of December, why not celebrate Christmas on his real birthday? Is that an easy or a difficult question to answer? Let s find out from Reverend William Gulliford. He s been a priest for 12 years and is the Rector of St Mary le Strand the church next door to the BBC World Service. Well, that s the billion dollar question and unfortunately, there s no simple answer to that. We don t have enough evidence in the New Testament to say exactly when Jesus birthday was. So I asked the billion dollar question as Reverend Gulliford put it never an easy question to answer! We heard how the New Testament - the part of the bible that talks about Jesus life doesn t provide us with enough reliable information to tell us when Jesus was really born. But if there isn t enough evidence about Jesus real birthday, why not choose say January the 25 th or April 22 nd as Christmas Day, for example? Here s what I found out after a bit of research Page 2 of 5

3 BBC Learning English When Christianity began over 2000 years ago in the Middle East region, Paganism was the main religion. Its religious beliefs and practices didn t follow any of the world s main religions, but it was practised in different ways around the Mediterranean area. Between the 21 st to about the 27 th of December, when there s more darkness than day-light, the Pagans celebrated various mid-winter festivals. The main one Saturnalia falls around the same time as Christmas and both festivals seem to feature light. Christina Oakley-Harrington works in a bookshop which sells books about the world s religions and practices and she grew up with a good understanding of Paganism. Try to spot how many different words Christina uses - apart from celebration - to describe the festival of Saturnalia Christina Oakley-Harrington, Treadwell s Bookshop It was a time of great tumult, of celebration, of chaos, of revelry So the festival of Saturnalia was in honour of a Pagan deity but it was also to bring back the sun so that he would slowly grow in strength and slowly grow in power and bring back the heat and the light. The festival of Saturnalia was in honour of a god of the pagan people a deity - but it was also to help bring back the full strength and power of the sun. Of course, heat and light were very important especially for people like farmers. But I spotted three lovely and quite old-fashioned words that Christina used to describe the festival of Saturnalia apart from celebration - did you? Christina Oakley-Harrington, Treadwell s Bookshop It was a time of great tumult, of celebration, of chaos, of revelry Page 3 of 5

4 BBC Learning English Christina said Saturnalia was a time of great tumult - a really noisy event because people were so happy and excited It was confusing and not very well ordered or organised so it was also a time of chaos. Finally, we heard the word revelry lots of noisy, drunk people were around. The Pagans obviously enjoyed celebrating so the Christian Church was able to persuade them to celebrate something else the birth of Jesus. Here s Reverend Gulliford s diplomatic answer to the question: How did one of the most important Christian festivals, Christmas, end up being celebrated more than other mid-winter pagan festivals? It was those that over time, the church managed to replace with Christmas as a festival of light, a festival of the birth of the real son, the son of righteousness. I think we like to talk about Christianizing things rather than necessarily stamping anything out. Christians believe that Jesus brought truth and light to save the world. And the Church was able to turn the pagan mid-winter festivals into a celebration of the birth of the son of God rather than the re-birth of the sun in the sky. Did you notice how Reverend Gulliford seemed to carefully and diplomatically use the word replace to talk about that instead of terms like stamping out, taking over or wiping out? It was those that over time the church managed to replace with Christmas as a festival of light Page 4 of 5

5 BBC Learning English Jesus birth became the main reason for the Pagan s mid-winter festivals and soon, most Pagans became Christians. And a modern form of Paganism still survives today, alongside Christianity. That s all for now. Goodbye. Page 5 of 5

BBC LEARNING ENGLISH The Grammar Gameshow

BBC LEARNING ENGLISH The Grammar Gameshow Some and any Hello, and welcome to today s Grammar Gameshow! I m your host,! but, I don t offer to help! And of course let s not forget, our all-knowing voice